A.I. Art

Desacralization of humanity.

Early December in the midst of preparing for the holidays I entangled myself in the debate about A.I. Art, a topic that as a writer and lover of art I have strong beliefs about. I came out strong against A.I. art, its use, and the support for any such technology. The debate that went on for a few days became rather animated and left me rather despondent towards a lot of individuals I respect. I decided to take a few weeks away from the conversation because the topic of art and spirituality is at the apex of importance in my worldview and being able to accurately elaborate my viewpoints on the topic is of utmost importance.

My opposition and disgust towards A.I. Art are not rooted in arguments of optimization, intellectual property, or stylistic differences. My opposition comes out of my deeply held Christian spiritual understanding of art.

Art is truth. The gift of creating art is a divine gift. The power to shape our world, to take chaos and use “artifice” human skill, human knowledge, to put forth truth and beauty.

In a variety of ways, through the cultivation of the earth, through craftsmanship, through the writing of books and the painting of ikons man gives material things a voice and renders the creation articulate in praise of God

This creative role he fulfills, not by brute force, but through the clarity of his spiritual vision; his vocation is not to dominate and exploit nature, but to transfigure and hallow it.

Art, literature, and music is not a product. It's an aesthetic and spiritual conversation between the creator, the viewer, and the universe. The ability to create it is our greatest gift.

The arguments supporting A.I. art were the usual utilitarian attacks against Luddism. The ever-familiar refrain, this time coming out of the mouths of fellow Christians that progress is inevitable, that it will happen no matter what and we should just accept it.

I won’t tolerate that. I accept the fact that we live in a fallen world. We are living in a debased and desacralized time where almost every aspect of our lives has been rendered profane. We are dulled by constant media, distracted by infinite digital mazes that overwhelm our senses and have turned us into rats chasing dopamine. The local has been destroyed, the communities that once were vibrant and full of creative spirit have been replaced by global corporate networks where every city center is a variation of a Downtown Disney Shopping center with stock Starbucks, while we drown in cheap plastic garbage mass produced in slave labor factories and shipped across our oceans to poison our children.

This was the inevitable progress! A century of cheap trash, ruined families, and decayed communities. We should have said no a long time ago. We should have turned our back on this progress instead of accepting it due to convenience.

But out of all the arguments against me, the one that bothered me the most was the accusation that I was being extreme in thinking that there is a demonic level to this perversion of art. Of course, I’m not referring to horned demons residing between the lines of code. The demonic isn’t so pathetically comical. It’s insidious.

The demonic resides in separation. In the in-between. It exists to separate man from other men, from the community, from culture, from beauty, and ultimately from the divine.

Art is a product of the divine. The greatest art speaks the truth. None but the most deracinated Bugman can walk through one of our great museums, take in the work of the masters, or visit the venerable city centers and bask in the master architectural design and craftsmanship, without experiencing awe towards the beauty. Only a Bugman of the lowest order cannot appreciate the beauty of language found in poetry or the great works of Doestvesky and Tolstoy that put forth truth.

So yes, the removal of the human element, the divine spark from art is demonic. It’s profane.

Our adversaries first attack a sacred object or belief by de-sacralization. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a product. It’s the democratization of it for the greater good. Once the object becomes common and mundane then it becomes profane. Once it has become profaned it no longer connects man to the spiritual, it no longer has value beyond its vulgar use.

We live in a world inundated by the profane. Surrounded by objects of technology made cheaply, by faceless slaves, where once everything was built by hand, crafted with care and purpose. We used to live in a world where the objects around us had meaning, and were cared for and loved, now we are drowning in the disposable and the cheap. Everything knew breaks down. Everything new is made cheap and defective. This is the world of progress. A world of A.I. disconnected from the spirit of man and artifice. Disconnected from the divine.

If my hatred and disgust towards the perversion of the fundamental connection between man and art are regressive and irrational then I am a proud regressive. I rather say no. I rather say enough. I rather not have something than cheapen myself with a cheap abomination. I don’t need the world, I don’t need convenience.

Accuse me of being a hipster, a hopeless aesthete, and you know what, fine, I accept that. I think we all should embrace the local, the handmade, and the high quality. I know that we don’t all have the ability to do so, but we should at least try, we should at least strive towards a dehumanization and a re-enhancement of our world. We are deeply affected by the objects and art around us and to deny that spiritually negative objects have a tremendous impact towards poisoning us is foolish.

So, I reject all A.I. art. I reject the degenerate product of Silicone Valley Bugmen who dehumanize and profane.

Art and Beauty are a redemptive presence in our lives, and the difference between real work of art and the fake is that real art is a work of love; fake art is a work of deception.

A.I. is deception, in the service of the Lord of Deception.